Post Office confirms it delivered uninsured letter to a Farmington business, but $320 ring is missing.

Robbin Embury of Farmington is still looking for a $320 diamond ring she bought on the online auction site eBay after the U.S. Postal Service issued a confirmation notice that an uninsured letter was delivered to an unknown Farmington business on the afternoon of Dec. 11, the Farmington Daily Times reported.

The postmaster said the carrier checked with all of the businesses on her route, but “nobody claims to have received that item, though it was delivered to them,” Embury told the Daily Times.

The delivery confirmation noted only that a letter was delivered to Farmington, but no address or signature information was available, and Embury, who assumed her package would be insured when she paid an additional $10 for shipping costs, found that without insurance the Postal Service couldn’t reimburse her for the misplaced mail, the paper reported.

Now Embury is appealing to business owners who may have received the 2-carat diamond ring, hoping it might be returned by whoever accidentally received the letter, according to the Daily Times.

But according to eBay account records, the seller to whom Embury paid $320 has closed her seller account after getting negative feedback from Embury and two other buyers who have accused the seller of fraud, the paper reported.

“She may have proof that she sent something,” Embury said of the New York-based seller, with whom she reported having positive feedback at the time of the sale, the Daily Times said.

But Terri Little, a professional eBay seller, told the paper that buyers should carefully examine sellers’ feedback ratings to ensure an honest transaction.

The diamond ring seller only had been registered on eBay for two months and had made just one prior sale, both details that should put eBay buyers on guard, said Little, who owns Online Outpost, an eBay consignment shop in Durango, the Daily Times said.

Little also recommended buyers get insurance on an item, but added, “Most buyers turn down the insurance,” the paper reported.

As for the Postal Service’s reliability, Little told the Daily Times: “I have shipped thousands of packages and I’ve only had one lost.”